200 Volunteers + KaBOOM! + Washington Capitals + ARHA = New Playground
In just 6 hours on September 13, a new playground will be built in Old Town.
More than 200 volunteers from Alexandria and surrounding communities will arrive at the site you see on the left and work together to build an amazing new playspace for Alexandria families and their children.
It's hard to believe volunteers can build a playground that quickly, but with the help of KaBOOM!, the Washington Capitals, So Kids Can, and the Alexandria Housing and Redevelopment Authority (ARHA), that's exactly what's going to happen.
The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in August.
This playground build has been almost a year in the making. ACTion Alexandria signed on as a supporter on September 30, 2011--almost exactly one year ago. We can't tell you how excited we are that build day is finally here. We think this community built playground is a great example of how our community can come together to help each other improve our community and solve some of the big issues we all face.
Project Play
Improving playspaces to ensure that every child in Alexandria has a quality place to play is one way to counter one of our biggest health issues--Alexandria’s high obesity rates among children. That's why we joined the Alexandria Project Play initiative. The statistics are alarming:
- 26.4% or approximately 100,000 children in Northern Virginia are either overweight or obese
- 43.5% of Alexandria children ages 2 to 5 are overweight or obese
- Only one-in-five children in the U.S. live within walking distance of a park or playground
We have plenty more projects planned including the "Community at Play" play date series and a new website and smart phone application.
Watch for the new playground build on September 13 and look for other opportunities to get your play on. We're building a grassroots movement for play in Alexandria and could use your help.
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